Conventionally, as is described, for example, in JP-A-2003-59955, a component mounting apparatus that extracts a chip component from a semiconductor wafer held by a wafer holding portion and transports the chip component using a movable placing head furnished with a plurality of suction nozzles so as to mount the chip component on a substrate spaced apart by a predetermined distance is provided with imaging device that is movable independently of the placing head and an image of a chip component to be extracted next by the placing head is taken by using the imaging device.
According to the component mounting apparatus described in the patent document cited above, by providing the imaging device that is movable independently of the placing head used for component transportation, it becomes possible to recognize a chip component to be sucked next in parallel with an operation to transport a chip component by the placing head. The production efficiency of substrates can be thus enhanced by making a takt time shorter.
Incidentally, in a case where the position of a component to be sucked is recognized by the imaging device that is movable independently of the placing head as described in the patent document cited above, a relative displacement may possibly occur between the coordinate systems of the placing head and the imaging device. When such a displacement occurs between the coordinate systems, because the position of a chip component in the wafer holding portion is recognized by the imaging device, it becomes impossible to understand the exact relative position of the chip component with respect to the placing head, which gives rise a problem in an operation to suck components by the placing head. With the technique in the patent document cited above, however, no countermeasure is taken against such a problem. It is therefore impossible to effectively prevent the occurrence of a component suction error resulting from a displacement between the coordinate systems as described above.
The same can be said for a component placing apparatus of other types, such as a component testing apparatus that transports a component supplied from the component supply portion and attaches the component to an inspection socket for examination using the placing head.
The invention was devised in view of the foregoing, and has an object to provide a component placing apparatus capable of effectively preventing the occurrence of a component suction error by appropriately adjusting a displacement between the respective coordinate systems of a placing head and a imaging device while efficiently performing suction position recognition using the imaging device that is movable independently of the placing head.